Process and apparatus for the conversion of peat, lignite, and other carbonaceous substances into artificial coal



. O- A. FORD. PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR THE CONVERSION 0F FEAT; LIGNITE, AND OTHER CARBONACEOUS SUBSTANCE'S INTO ARTIFICIAL COAL. D AAPPLICATION mw shknzs, 1916. RENEWED Nov. 4. 192|.

IAEDQSQ Patented Aug.22,1922

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@LPRA A. FORD, OF MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSEGNGR, U1? ONE-HALF T@ MARGARET JTHOMPSON, OIF KENNEB'UNK, MAXIME.

rnooass 'ann .arranar'us ron THE CONVERSIN 0F FEAT, LDIGNTE, AND @TEM CARBONCEOUS SUBSTANCES INTO ARTL'FC'AL COAL.

Application led September 23, 1916, Serial No.

T 0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, OLPHA A. FORD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Malden, in the county of Middlesex and State of lilassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Processe'sand Apparatus for the Conversion of Peat, Lignite, and other Carbonaceous Substances into Artiicial Coal, ot which the ollowing isa specification.

1n the conversion of peat, lignite and 'other carbonaceous substances into coal. there are twofmain steps,` the first comprising the extraction of the larger part of the moisture contained therein, and the rupture of the cellular tissue thereof, and the second consisting of the formation of the treated material into briquets.

1n drying the material, l prefer to employ the hot gases arising from a furnace, and to have the same pass first about a drum through which the material is beingted, and then in contact with the latter while on its way to the drum. Although this obviates the diiculty which l have found to exist, that of setting the dried material on tire when tlie hot gases pass over the entire train of drying material, it still fails to overcome another trouble which ll have discovered, and which consists in rolling the material into spheres or balls having hard impervious eXteriors but an interior which no amount of treatment can affect.

Having learned this, 1 then saw that by giving the material a partial drying, breaking up these spheres, giving the same a `further drying, and then a linal grinding 'preliminary to the briquetting, the entire problem was solved. .1n the description of my process and of my apparatus for carrying the same into efiect, l have speciied peat as the material treated, but lignite and other carbonaceous substances can be similarly treated.

rlhe apparatus which l pre-fer to employ for carrying my process into effect is shown in the drawings forming part ot this specitication, in which Figure 1 is a side view of the apparatus, partially in section. Figure 2 is a lan view of a portion thereof, also partial y in section.

The material, as peat partially dried at mospherically or otherwise, isv delivered from the bin 1 through suitable feed and Specification of Letters Patent. Pgatmtgd Aug., 22, 119220 121,877. Renewed November e, 1921. Serial No. 51.29%.

crushing rolls 2 upon an'inclined chute 3 beneath, and thence to a drum t rotated in any proper way., I as by a rack t5. rllhis drum is slightly inclined and provided with a helical rib 'l within it, in`

order to induce a slow progression ot the peat to the drums lower end. At this lower end is a fixed chamber 9 containing grundworm 5 and annular ing rolls 10 which receive and pulverize the y partially dried peat.

Below these rolls 10 is a chute 11 which delivers the ground partially dried peat to a second slightly inclined drum 12 provided with a helical rib 13. At the lower end of this drum is a fixed chamber 14C containing grinding rollsfl beneath which is a chute or hopper 'for delivering the dehydrated, pulverized and chemically aiected peat to the press.

lor thus extracting the moisture trom and tor otherwise converting the peat int/o elements which subsequent treatment can torni into a solid homogeneous mass corresponding both physically and chemically to the best anthracite coal, ll prefer to employ the hot products of combustion conducted trom a furnace or a battery of furnaces 17 to the drums a and 12. Such gases proceed through a neck 19 provided with a damper 20, to the chamber 9. A conduit 21entends from the neck 19 to the drum 12 and connects with an annular space between the exterior of the drum and a shell 22 surrounding the drum, but made to revolve with the latter, not because of any advantage to be derived from moving the shell but because ot structural conditions.

rl`his conduit 21 is also provided with a damper, at 23, in order to properly apportion the hot products of combustion trom the furnace between the two drums.

To enable the hot gases to pass by the feed chute 11 and the grinding rolls 10, the chamber 9 is laterally enlarged, as shown in Fig. 2, and is thereby made to provide ample passageway. Similarly, the chamber 2a containing the feed chute 3 is laterally widened to enable the gases from the drum ,e to pass to a suction fan 25 employed for the purpose ot' increasing the draft of `the furnaces and for liastening the passage of the gases about and through the drums.

rThe operation of the drying and grinding portion'l of the apparatus is as follows; As

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- in order to carry the drying peat, the chamber 14 is made a entrance into the chamber `which 1s the press the peat is fed through the rolls 2 to the drum 4, it slowly travels down the latter to its lower end, and is partially dried, but, unfortunately, under the rolling action of the rotating drum it is formed into spheres or pebbles of various sizes, but each one characterized by having a hard imperviousv exteriorenclosing a moist partially unaffected core.

These vpebbles descend to the grinding rolls 10 and by the latter are entirely disintegrated and converted into substantially a powder. This is delivered to the drum 12,

land in .contact with its hot surface is still further dried. Though it may again ball up o r form itself into ebbles to a greater or less extent, its Icontalned moisture is sufiiciently expelled to enable it, after being again ground, to be compressed into briquets.

By having the hot gases pass about the exterior of the drum 12instead of through the same, we obviate the danger of initiating combustion in the pe-at, since in this second drum the peat has become so nearly dry las to be liable to such an effect.

inasmuch, however, as it is necessary to maintain a circulation through the drum 12 away the moisture from mixintg chamber into which suitablequantities o atmospheric air andof hot gases can be admitted and intermixed and then delivered to the drum. To this end, a suitable conduit, as the pipe 26, passes fromthe conduit 21 around and into the chamber 14. A damperA 27 in this pipe and an opening adjustably closed by a Hap 29, permit of the of the proper quantities of atmospheric air and of hot gases to maintain a safe but ample current through the drum 12. The driedpeat, given its final crushing by the grjnding rolls 15, descends to the delivery hopper 16 at the lower end of for compreing the peat into briquets. This-hopper 'is surrounded with a steam jacket 31, and one entire surface 32 is incined to cause the peatto descend in contact therewith up to the very moment of delivery tothe press.

he press com rises a vplunger 33 operated by hydraullic ressure controlled by a rotary valve'34. pon this plunger is a shoulder 35 against one face of which the water or other fluid' is forced to retract the plunger back from below the hopper` 16, while the fluid pressure against the rear end' of the plunger causes it to' forcibly advance and compressthe peat which has descended in front of it.

To provide compressive opposition to the forward push ofthe plunger 33, a secondary plunger 36 is located in line with the rimary plunger 33, and operated in a similar manner, having a shoulder 37 and avalve 39.

I`in place.

peat to descend in front thereof, it is then forced steadily toward the secondary plunger, compressing this quantity of between its end and the briquets previously formed in the plunger cylinder 40, the secondary plunger .holding said briquets firmly plunger 33 has water-receiving As shown in Fig. 1, the its cylinder surrounded by chambers, oneof steam, and the other for Coldwater, the heated chamber being for the purpose of heating the cylinder into which the peat is first delivered, while the cold wateris for the purpose of cooling the peat during the last step of its com ression and its delivery to the secondary p unger 36. Theheating. serves to aid in the cohesion of the material loose peat f which isfor hot water or under initial compression while the final cooling aids in fitting the compressed peat for exposure to the atmosphere.

The secondary plunger now retreats to its rearmost position, and the primary plunger completes its stroke from the point shown in Fig. 1 until it has forced the outermost briquet out from the cylinder and beneath the detacher 41. The primary plunger lbegins its retraction; the detacher descends, forcing the briquet down or elsewhere to a suitable receptacle; the secondary plunger returns position, and the cycle of operationsI continues as before.

As above set forth, the'intermediate grinding of'the peat breaks up all the ballsor pebbles thereof formed during the preliminary drying, and so makes it possible to give the requisite dehydration to the same in the final drying. ing, at a temperature carefully adjusted to be at as high a degree as necessary without ignitin the nearly dried peat, the latter is regroun and delivered through a heated channel to the press.

Said channel or hopper 16 is surrounded by a jacket 31v to which steam is delivered, and by which the hot dried peat is maintained at a suiiicient temperature, usually 212, up to its delivery to the press. Further, the section of the press where the compression of the peat takes place is itself maintained at a proper temperature by a steam jacket 42. By thus keeping the parts suitably hot, the peat itself and the chemical elements therein are all enabled to be compressed into a solid powerfully coherent whole. Y

The above described sudden compression of the mass of hot dehydrated peat, which heat is further increased by the compression,

to its illustrated'v After this final `drynaaeae substances into artificial coal, comprising means for giving the material a preliminary dehydratiommeans for giving to thematerial a second dehydration, means tor -receiving` the material from the rst dehydrating means, pulverizing it and delivering it to thefsecond dehydrating means, means for receiving the y.material from the second dehydrating means and giving it a tinal pulverization, and means for variably delivering intermixed atmospheric air and hot products tothe second dehydrating means, said pulverizing means being in the direct path of travel of the gases and material, and both being at all times enclosed Within the kiln body. v

4. rllhe herein described vmeans for converting peat, lignite and other carbonaceous substances into artificial coal, comprising an elevated rotative drum adapted to receiveand deliver the material at its respective ends, a pulverizing device located to receive the material from said drum, a second drum located to receive by gravity the pulverized material 'from said device, a second pulverizing device located to receive the material from the second drum, means for delivering hot products of combustion to the yfirst drum and to the space about the second drum, and chambers having laterally spaced Walls enclosing said pulverizing means respectively and adapted to permit the unimpeded passage past the latter to the drums ofthe hot products of combustion,

ln testimony that l claim the foregoing invention, l have hereunto set myhand this 20th day of September, 1916. v

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acts to combine ede'ctively all the solid., gaseous and luid-lilled elements into a coherent whole, which subsequent exposure to a freezing temperature acts to chill, condense, harden and seal the same into a solid body, which exhibits a complete change to a crystalline form showing all the characteristics of true coal, even to the conchoidal or shell-like fracture and brittleness of the latter. This chilling is accomplished by any suitable means, as by the cylinder 114 which is cooled by a reirigerating liquid circulatin in the space 43.

at l claim is: l

l. The herein described process `o converting peat, lignite and other carbonaceous substances into artificial coal, which consists in subjecting the material to the action of hot products of combustion, and'tollovving the same by subjecting the material to an intermixed stream of atmospheric air an hot products of combustion, and subjecting the material during the second treatment to indirect heating.

2. The herein described process ot converting peat, lignite and other carbonaceous substances into artificial coal, which consists in subjecting the material to the action of hot products of combustion, then grinding the same, subjecting it to an intermixed stream of atmospheric air and hot products of combustion, subjecting the material during the second drying to indirect heating, and subjecting the material to a rolling actionk during each drying, and again pulverizing the material and finally compressing it into blocks.

3. The herein described means tor converting peat, lignite and other carbonaceous 

